Three Day Trial Hike

At the start of the hike, in North Carolina.

With just 3 months and 3 days left before the real thing, Ben and I embarked on a little tester hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT).  The plan was to test all the gear we’d bought or borrowed, and to give our legs a little reality check of what is in store.

Fortunately, we had a guide.  During the confusing consider-your-gear stage, I was overwhelmed by the options for every type of gear you can imagine.  Literally dozens of tents, bags, shoes – even socks!  Whatever happened to grab a tent, a sleeping bag, and just hike?  At this stage we'd met Cullen Cole at REI, who is great.  He’s hiked the AT, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and the Great Divide Trail - the Holy Trinity of long distance hiking pilgrimages. He not only helped us get the right gear from REI, but in a few instances recommended other gear he felt was better than REI’s – a rare breed.  I’d asked him to join us on the trial hike and he planned the route, so we had a guru with us.

We joined the AT near the Georgia – North Carolina border, via a steep incline up to Deep Gap.  That first 3-mile leg was a vigorous ascent – at its steepest climbing over 2000 feet in under 2 miles.  To put this in context, we climbed to the top of a 160 story building in 2 hours.  We both felt our legs burning – Ben looked at me anxiously with eyes which groaned, “You wanna do this for a month – no friggin' way!!”  It was a low moment to start the trip.

After the drive from Atlanta in the morning, it was already 4pm, so we decided to look for a place to camp.  We hiked 3 miles southbound, which was full of the gentler, rolling hills one hopes for in a hike, to Muskrat Creek Shelter, and found the hut full of AT thru hikers.  They were a friendly bunch, if not exactly determined.   Everyone we spoke to had been hiking for 14+ days, and averaged about 5 miles per day – less than we had hiked since 2pm that day.  We bade them well, but I secretly felt that instead of hiking the AT, they were there to escape their own personal challenges, rather than face them, or those that the AT presented. 

Cullen proposed we go for Crooked Tree, a nice camp area that was 3 further miles through steeper terrain.  It was already 6pm, and as sunset was 830pm, we knew we’d have a challenge in front of us.  I was worried it might be too much for Ben, after the earlier climb.  I looked at him for the decision.  His eyes narrowed with resolve as he declared, “Let’s get going then.”

Ben roared off with a strong pace, even though the hills were both longer and steeper than the mid-section of the day.  The previous night’s temperature had been below freezing at 22 F (-5 C), and it had been snowing a couple of days before, so we now felt a biting wind cutting across the ridges we traversed as evening approached.  Ben seemed not to notice as the miles swept by; twice, I pointed out other options to camp.  I worried we’d arrive only to find the camp area taken, and have no light to find another, pitch camp (it’d be our first time testing all the gear in the actual woods) or gather fire wood. 

At the 1st camp, Ben pitched the tent while I lit the fire.

Before long, my fears were squashed, as we arrived to find the empty camp area with an hour to go before sunset.  Ben had led the way and we'd found a great place to camp.

So just a few notes about the gear:

• Tent – Big Agnes from REI, was easy to set up and take down, and light, if a bit expensive.  Hopefully, we'll get years of use out of it.
• Backpacks - the biggest winner of the trip, the ULA backpacks were awesome.  Light, durable and affordable.  And for the first time in 20 years of backpacking, Cullen taught me how to wear one - putting the weight on the hips instead of the shoulders!
• Sleeping bags - mixed bag here (pun intended); I had a super-light one, as I'm carrying more stuff, and had got Ben a cheap (heavy) one.  But I was feeling some fatherly guilt about this... I'll have to upgrade him.
• Air mattress - the neo-air was the biggest let down.  It's just too smooth and my sleeping bag kept sliding off it.  I'll be down-grading.
• Hiking poles - surprise hit.  I thought they'd be a waste, but we both liked using them.  I'll have to get a second pair.           

On the 2^nd day, we woke up a bit late, and started hiking about 1030am.  Again, Ben led from the front for most of the day, and it was this day Ben refers to in this video.

Mostly, we got into a nice rhythm, and just enjoyed the miles as they went by. Again, a few times we passed by AT Thru Hikers whose heart didn’t seem in it.  By then, I started to wonder how we would feel and act after two weeks without a soft bed or hot shower.  I felt bad for feeling critical earlier, and just full of admiration they were here, regardless of their purpose.

Toward the end of the day, as we climbed to the summit of Standing Indian Mountain where we hoped to camp after a short, 12-mile day, two things happened.  First, I had my own low moment, of the why-in-the-heck-am-I-doing-this variety.  My knees were aching, and I knew this was nothing compared to the PCT.  As I watched Ben leading the way up yet another switchback, I felt a little like groaning myself, until the second thing happened.  

Glad we missed the hosts!

We smelled a bear.  Of course, Cullen was the first to notice the odor, having seen, and smelled, many bears in his travels.  It was a lurking, musky scent, and permeated the air.  Ben and I waited for instruction – what does one do about the scent of a bear?  Should we retreat?  Which way?  We waited for a few moments, until Cullen decided the bear had passed this way not long ago.  I have no idea how he knew that, but he said we should just keep hiking, and for some reason my knee stopped hurting just then, which was nice, and we scampered up the rest of the mountain quite quickly, thank you very much.

There, we enjoyed the best views of the trip – a glorious scene over Lake Hiawassee and the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The camp ground itself was surrounded by soft grass, there was a fire circle of stones already assembled and there was plenty of firewood around.  And best of all, we had it to ourselves.  It was far more perfect than one can generally find in the woods, but just the type we all optimistically imagine is the norm.  I sat back, enjoyed the Long Island Tea I had brought with me, and felt like I was in heaven.

Pure majesty, as we enjoy some mac/cheese and watch the sun set over the Blue Ridge Mountains.  

Perversely, at the same time, I was aching all over.  My right knee was still sore, and I was just tuckered out.  Whilst these miles had been a good little trial, the AT is a lot easier than the PCT, as these altitude profiles help illustrate (AT vs PCT).  Ben and Cullen volunteered to hike down to the stream for water (thank goodness!), and I took a few moments to think - this is going to be tough.

That evening, we talked about the plan.  We have two options for the PCT this summer.  We want to fly back from Lake Tahoe, so we're either hiking southbound from near Redding, or northbound from near Bakersfield.  The pros and cons seem to be:

• Northbound, pros - arguably the most beautiful stretch of hiking on this planet, just legendary; cons - more crowded, steeper, harder, and more bears.
• Southbound, pros - still amazingly beautiful, less crowded and, of course, less bears.  Cons - if we don't do the other stretch now, will we ever??

The next morning we hiked back down to the car, just a quick 4 miles of descending.  Ben led the way, and I found myself feeling comforted by his enthusiasm.  After his initial wobble, he had approached every incline with determination.  Not every 13 year old boy would embrace the hardship of 'roughin it', but Ben was proactive and fun, and a joy of a companion.  As I consider the challenge in front of us, I'm not sure if we'll make 500 miles - just a few days on the AT made me realise what a gargantuan challenge that will be in just 28 days.  But I know the journey we travel together will be far greater than the miles, or the month we spend on the trail.

Ben builds the fire on the second night. 

Last morning, enjoying a mountain sized cup of coffee.

Just before the finish, alongside a gorgeous mountain stream.